The Migrant Crisis in India
Anytime, any crisis arises; the worst case scenarios are always faced by the ‘informal sector’ or ‘unorganised labour’ of which the migrant workers are a large part.
This time too it’s no different. The current Coronavirus pandemic and its wrath has been harsher on the migrants of India.
More than half of India’s regular wage earners have hit the rock-bottom amid the coronavirus pandemic and the subsequent lockdown.
What has added to the migrant worker crisis is the fact that lakhs of migrant workers in the country do not have documentation and registration and this has kept them away from accessing schemes organised by the government.
Why are they lacking documents?
One of the reasons for a lack of documentation and registration papers among migrant workers is that these processes are often extremely complicated and workers find it extremely difficult with their meagre income and literacy to get these made or makes sense of the procedures involved.
When these registrations have to be done on one’s own, it becomes very difficult for the migrant workers because most often they don’t have online literacy or access to digital sources. Secondly, an incentive for workers to underreport their workers is also one of the major reasons why a vast majority of workers aren’t able to get the benefits of several government announced schemes.
Revelations from the latest Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS), show more than half of India’s regular wage-workers had no social security net and 71% had no written job contract in 2017-18. Moreover, with the coronavirus pandemic coming as a severe blow, workers throughout the country have lost their jobs and the worst hits have been workers from the informal sector.
India’s informal sector workers comprise nearly 92% of the workforce. They have been receiving no support from their employers and most of them haven’t even received the benefits and cash offered by the governments due to problems of low documentation and lack of registration.
What adds to their problems is the fact that they were not registered under any social security scheme and there was a consequent lack of Direct Benefit Transfer Links to their bank accounts. More than half of the workers haven’t received any promised cash from the government.
*Note here that if they had been documented and registered, the cash transfer schemes could have greatly helped them and brought about the much needed respite during the lockdown. More than 32% had to borrow money and 15% were compelled to sell off their assets just in order to be able to eat two meals a day.
Indian has been under lockdown since March 25, 2020. During this time, activities not contributing to the production and supply of essential goods and services were completely or partially suspended. Passenger trains and flights were halted.
Internal migrant flows can be classified based on origin and destination. One kind of classification is:
i) rural-rural
ii) rural-urban
iii) urban-rural
iv) urban-urban
As per the 2011 census, there were 21 crore rural-rural migrants which formed 54% of classifiable internal migration (the Census did not classify 5.3 crore people as originating from either rural or urban areas). Rural-urban and urban-urban movement accounted for around 8 crore migrants each. There were around three crore urban-rural migrants (7% of classifiable internal migration).
Another way to classify migration is:
- intra-state
- inter-state
In 2011, intra-state movement accounted for almost 88% of all internal migration (39.6 crore persons).
According to the Economic Survey, 2016-17, Census data also underestimates temporary migrant labour movement. In 2007-08, the NSSO estimated the size of India's migrant labour at seven crore (29% of the workforce). The Economic Survey, 2016-17, estimated six crore inter-state labour migrants between 2001-2011. The Economic Survey also estimated that in each year between 2011-2016, on average 90 lakh people travelled for work.
There is variation across states in terms of inter-state migration flows.
According to the 2011 Census, there were 5.4 crore inter-state migrants. As of 2011, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar were the largest sources of inter-state migrants while Maharashtra and Delhi were the largest receiver states. Around 83 lakh residents of Uttar Pradesh and 63 lakh residents of Bihar had moved either temporarily or permanently to other states. Around 60 lakh people from across India had migrated to Maharashtra by 2011.
Steps taken by the Government:
Transport: On March 28, the central government authorised states to use the State Disaster Response Fund to provide accommodation to travelling migrants. States were advised to set up relief camps along highways with medical facilities to ensure people stay in these camps while the lockdown is in place.
In an order issued on April 29, the Ministry of Home Affairs allowed states to co-ordinate individually to transport migrants using buses.
On May 1, the Indian Railways resumed passenger movement (for the first time since March 22) with Shramik Special trains to facilitate the movement of migrants stranded outside their home state.
Between May 1 and June 3, Indian Railways operated 4,197 Shramik trains transporting more than 58 lakh migrants. Top states from where Shramik trains originated are Gujarat and Maharashtra and states where the trains terminated are Uttar Pradesh and Bihar.
Food distribution: On April 1, the Ministry of Health and Family Affairs directed state governments to operate relief camps for migrant workers with arrangements for food, sanitation and medical services.
On May 14, under the second tranche of the Aatma Nirbhar Bharat Abhiyaan, the Finance Minister announced that free food grains would be provided to migrant workers who do not have a ration card for two months. The measure is expected to benefit eight crore migrant workers and their families. The Finance Minister also announced that One Nation One Ration card will be implemented by March 2021, to provide portable benefits under the PDS. This will allow access to ration from any Fair Price Shop in India.
Housing: The Aatma Nirbhar Bharat Abhiyaan also launched a scheme for Affordable Rental Housing Complexes for Migrant Workers and Urban Poor to provide affordable rental housing units under PMAY. The scheme proposes to use existing housing stock under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Housing Mission (JNURM) as well as incentivise public and private agencies to construct new affordable units for rent. Further, additional funds have been allocated for the credit-linked subsidy scheme under PMAY for the middle-income group.
Financial aid: Some state governments (like Bihar, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh) announced one-time cash transfers for returning migrant workers. UP government announced the provision of maintenance allowance of Rs 1,000 for returning migrants who are required to quarantine.
One definite thing that this ‘crisis’ could have established for migrant section is the emergence of the worker-migrant as a political category, forcing not only a change in the policies but also the tale of politics.
